Media release

Baby-walkers: hazardous

New safety regulations to reduce baby-walker injuries will eliminate only one half of the serious injuries sustained by Australian babies in walkers, according to a study in the latest issue of the Medical Journal of Australia.

The study, by Mr Peter Thompson, an injury epidemiologist in the Department of Human Services, South Australia, looked at injuries to 381 babies in South Australia and Victoria.

At least 500 babies are injured this way each year in Australia, and about 20,000 in the United States, with about one-half needing emergency room treatment.

The US standard for baby-walkers includes two requirements intended to make baby-walkers safer:

a base too wide to fit through a standard doorway

a specified level of stability and a gripping mechanism to stop the walker at the edge of a step.

The New South Wales Department of Fair Trading has introduced a regulation that all baby-walkers sold in NSW must comply with the second requirement of the US Standard. Mr Thompson examined the 381 injury events to determine which would have occurred with the second regulation in place.

Mr Thompson said: "The US standard helps to reduce the number of babies that fall down steps and stairs, but does not prevent them reaching other hazards such as heaters, ash-trays, electrical appliances and hot drinks. These events represent one-half of the most serious incidents, that is those where the victims have to be hospitalized."

An extended nationwide requirement based on the NSW regulation is being considered by the Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Division, with a view to its introduction this year.

While the NSW regulation will remove the potential for some categories of injury, the author calls on Australian government bodies concerned with health and consumer interests to ban baby-walkers altogether.

"It could be argued that the NSW regulation is better than nothing, but, with the option of banning baby-walkers, this rationale cannot be sustained.

"In other studies baby-walkers have been shown to delay, rather than help child development, so the risk of injury is not offset by any health benefit," Mr Thompson said.

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.


CONTACT: Mr Peter Thompson (08) 8226 6279 (B/H)

Dept of Health Services, S.A. (08) 8339 3396 (A/H)

Sarah Crichton, AMA (0419) 440 076

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